CSS Stonewall, a 1390-ton ironclad ram,
was built in Bordeaux, France, for the Confederate Navy. Embargoed
by the French government in February 1864, prior to her launching,
she was subsequently sold to Denmark. Upon completion of her
construction in late 1864, the Danish government would not accept
delivery and her builder secretly resold her to the Confederates.

Commissioned at sea as CSS Stonewall in January 1865, she
attempted to obtain supplies in French waters, then sailed for
Madeira, Azores, en route to America, where she was ordered to
attack Federal naval forces and commercial shiping. Forced into
Ferrol, Spain, by a storm, she was confronted by USS Niagara and USS
Sacramento in March 1865. However, these wooden warships avoided
action when the well-armed and armored Stonewall put to sea on 24
March. After calling at Lisbon, Portugal, the Confederate ironclad
crossed the Atlantic, reaching Havana, Cuba, in May. As the Civil
War had then ended, she was turned over to Spanish Authorities.

In July 1865, the Spanish delivered Stonewall to the United
States Government. She was laid up at the Washington Navy Yard,
D.C., for the next two years, and then sold to Japan. In Japanese
service, she was initially named K˘tetsu and, after 1871, Azuma.